Note:
During extensive research, it becomes that the Laughing Kookaburra is a very old species on it's own (at least 10 million years old), and the genus Dacelo itself is most likely the ancestor of all Kingfishers (Coraciiformes). They are one of the oldest species of birds, along with their closest relatives, Hornbills (Bucerotidae) which existed for at least 15 million years.
Except for the Archaeopteryx , the ancestor for both these species are mysterious and are pretty much unknown. Because other primitive birds like Confuciusornis and Hesperornis are birds that live explicitly in China and are not likely to be the ancestors of these two types of birds. Most scientist now believes that the Pteranodon Sternbergi and the Azhdarchids are one of the closest related species of Hornbills and Kingfishers, after Archaeopteryx.
General Information: The Pteranodon Sternbergi is one of the first and largest flying creatures ever on earth, having an average wingspan of 15 feet or 4.5 meter and weighting 50 pounds. They were discovered in mid-19th century and was originally falsely thought to be bizarre, overgrown nautical monster with amphibian wings. This species lived in the Late Cretaceous era about 82 million years ago. They are a sexually dimorphism species with male significantly larger than females, their skull crest (which remarkably resembles those of a Hornbills) is a sexually selected feature, much like the Indian Peafowl. Their Latin name literally means Toothless (Ptera), Wing (Nodon) which will be further explored in the adaptation column.
Distribution & Habitat: The Pteranodon lived in the North Americian shores and skies, evident have also shown that they might have lived in parts of Europe, such as England. Like the Kookaburras, they were Carnivorous and hunted mainly fishes in this coastal, salt-water area with special skills (which will be mentioned below). These creatures also preferred cool and wet weather, as scientist thinks they are very likely to have furs and are homeothermic or warm-blooded.
Map 1 - Distribution of the Pteranodon Picture's Source
Labelled by Kelvin Ko
By being the largest flying creature who flew in the sky, they have a natural advantage of mobility and position against their prey. They were also highly adapted to hunt fishes as they have large eyes (this will be further explained below). Because of this, they are often depicted to soar through coastline (like modern seagulls) or Southern Europe and Northern Africa. Notice that they would also hunt other small-sized dinosaurs and mammals. They also live in small groups.
Figure 3 - An Artist' Conception of the Late Cretaceous Period Source
This species usually like to fly in light or moderate wind, so it's likely that they are the most vulnerable in typhoon seasons (May-August, Summer). In these times, the also-terrestrial confident Pteranodon would hunt on the ground. Some scientist speculates that they might also have the ability to climb tress as well, which would be ideal in forests and woodlands of Europe. Other scientists believes that these creatures live with their young and build nest-like shelter in hidden bushes.
Other than that, very little is known about this species, as Scientist have yet to explore them deeply. According to their habitat, it is very likely that they lived with famous dinosaurs like Ankylosauridae and Pachycephalosauria & mammals like Opossum. Notice that the climate in this period is warmer than the modern days and tropical regions are limited to equatorial areas.
Physical 1 - Excellent Aerialist:
The predominant physical adaption of a Pternodon is it's marvelous aerial-advantageous body build. This species have a mixture of bat-like (eg. Greater short-nosed fruit bat ) and bird-like (eg. Black Swan ) characteristic, but are still thought to be more superior than both in terms of flight. For instance, their wing membrane was fortified by a strong network of elastic fibers, making it unbreakable. They also must have strong wings and precise flight control to take off. Similar to most birds, they have nearly weightless, sparse bones which is why they are incredibly light. Together with long, sharp bills that are compatible with aerodynamics they can easily glide through air without much flapping, which saves a tremendous amount energy. In bats and birds, backbone and torso muscles are useless in flight, but in Ptermodon, these muscles are mostly eliminated. With this anatomy, they have maximized their aerial abilities. Early environment pressure that causes this adaptation to arise is most likely because of their predator, Tyrannosaurus. The T-Rex is such a fierce land dinosaur that there are almost no ways to avoid capture on land. Because of this, Pternodon with better gliding/flying abilities will escape easier, thus leading to evolution. The late environmental pressure is caused by airborne competitiveness. As some of the other airborne creatures are also extraordinarily fast and flexible. Due to this perssure, the Pternodon is required to be even more adapted in air.
Figure 5 - Flying Posture
Notice their extremely large wing and strengthened membrane. Source
Physical 2 - Adapted Fish-Hunter:
The Pternodon is proved to be a species that doesn't only rely on their flighting abilities. Being an airborne fish hunter, an aerial strike is usually deadly without pinpoint accuracy. Pternodons have very large and complexed eyes, their eyesight are more or less equivalent to the eyesight of an eagle, which would allow them to look far away and be able to distinguish preys and track them far below the sea-level. When they locked their target, they would drive straight down and plunge in immediately, while using the additional joints they have around the neck-bone to strengthen their neck (as the penetrating force will be great enough to twist necks). Their pointy, sharp and long bills would also give them and advantage of easier water flow, making the strike even deadlier and deeper. In reality, airborne fishers faces numerous hardship during hunting. This driving pressure would require the species to develop new physical adaptations to hunt in water, which in this case, its sight, neck-bone and bills. Pternodons with a worse combination of these are more likely to die of starvation, thus, making this environmental pressure a driving force of evolution.
Figure 6 - An Artist' conception of a Pteranodon hunting. Source
Behavioral 1 - Intelligence:
Although very little information are obtained regarding to the Pteranodon, scientist believe that they are indeed an intelligent species. This is witnessed by it's relatively huge frontolobe and large-sized brain. Which are contributors to the bird's sense of self and level of consciousness. This is also the area of visual and spacial coordination and mapping, which means the bigger frontolobe area gives this species better equipment for flight. Another evident of their intellect is that they pick secured areas to lay single egg, providing parental care, which is evolutionary advantageous. Being toothless, also have to carefully swallow fish, to prevent choking. This species probably had a complex social life and are picky in terms of mating partners. Females of this species will pick males with a large head crest, a sign of strength as this crest hinder their ability to fly. Even in ancient times, intelligence was very essential to the species' survival, as creatures that have a low level of intelligence will eventually be out-smart by predators/preys and will starve to death. So, this adaptation might have arrived due to natural competition. Secondary reasons include it's speed to have a better dimensional concept, which means a bigger frontolobe.
Behavioral 2 - Bat-Style Locomotion:
Despite being an airborne species, one of the biggest adaptation of the Pteranodon is it's ability to move on land. This species use a Bat-Style Locomotion, which unlike flight, have to be trained and practiced with hard-work. In 1990s, discovery regarding to the fossils leads scientist into believing that these creature might have mastered a way to move on land and can out-speed many of the dinosaurs. In contrast to vertebrates, who walk using the toes, they would spread their arms and legs sideway and lift their thighs horizontally to walk. This adaptation would prove to be very useful as the species can now easily maneuver themselves around the ground without fearing surprise attack of a predator or getting chased. With the speed and agility, they also can feed on land in windy days. They can also now relax easier on land after tiring, long-distance flights. This adaptation arise from the fact that early Pteranodon are very weak on land, which means they are easy preys for ambush-style predators. The pressure from hunting (it's very hard to caught fish while airborne) may also lead this species to start exploring land-hunting. So, a Pteranodon that is more flexible and moves easier on land are more likely to survive and prevent starvation.
Figure 7 - The Pteranodon demonstrating it's locomotion ability. Source
Physiological - Homeothermic:
The Pternodons are thought to be warm-blooded (homeothermic) and may have feathers or thin hair covering their body. Scientist think this species may in fact have a high-metabolic rate and ate a lot, (possibly to maintain their energy). Like also seem to have wider blood vessels on their wings, which they flaps constantly during hot summer seasons. Though rarely used for this purpose, their wings acts like a heat exchange, similar to elephant's ears, to cool down their body temperature. Being a warm-blooded is very advantageous as the Pternodons live in a cool, wet area, with constant temperature change. Being warm-blooded means they could hunt and gather food during extremely cold weather, unlike their cold-blooded dinosaur counterparts. Due to the bigger living range a warm-blooded animal has, they can easily avoid their predator, T-Rex, simply by moving into colder areas.They are also less likely to be affected by surrounding area's temperature. It is unknown how this species evolved into a warm-blooded creature, but it is possibly due to their predators constantly hunting them. Which means new adaptation have to emerge, for this case, being warm-blooded, so they can move away. And since they can easily hunt a large amount of preys, they can easily become warm-blooded.
Figure 8 - Another Fossil of the Pteranodon
This example, along with many others,
lead scientist to believe that they have feathers. Source
Extinctional Pressure:
It is originally thought that the driving force leading to the Pteranodon's population decline (for food, shelter and so on) is the competition with other primitive bird species. And since the evolution of the Pteranodon lagged behind during the late times of the era, many species, predators and preys have out-adapted them. Towards the end of the era, the Pteranodon became a small, endangered species. However, at that stage, they are still far from extinction. It is when the K-T mass extinction (a short period of time that includes increased volcanic activity, which increased the nitrous oxide level on earth) happened, which wiped almost all of the nautical creatures such as crabs and mollusks and fishes that the Pteranodon fed on, that the Pteranodon truly becomes extinct.
Figure 9 - An Artist' Conception of the K-T mass extinction Source
Modern Animal: Laughing Kookaburra ->
Future Animal: Dacelo Novaemundus ->->
Note:
During extensive research, it becomes that the Laughing Kookaburra is a very old species on it's own (at least 10 million years old), and the genus Dacelo itself is most likely the ancestor of all Kingfishers (Coraciiformes). They are one of the oldest species of birds, along with their closest relatives, Hornbills (Bucerotidae) which existed for at least 15 million years.
Except for the Archaeopteryx , the ancestor for both these species are mysterious and are pretty much unknown. Because other primitive birds like Confuciusornis and Hesperornis are birds that live explicitly in China and are not likely to be the ancestors of these two types of birds. Most scientist now believes that the Pteranodon Sternbergi and the Azhdarchids are one of the closest related species of Hornbills and Kingfishers, after Archaeopteryx.
Source
General Information:
The Pteranodon Sternbergi is one of the first and largest flying creatures ever on earth, having an average wingspan of 15 feet or 4.5 meter and weighting 50 pounds. They were discovered in mid-19th century and was originally falsely thought to be bizarre, overgrown nautical monster with amphibian wings. This species lived in the Late Cretaceous era about 82 million years ago. They are a sexually dimorphism species with male significantly larger than females, their skull crest (which remarkably resembles those of a Hornbills) is a sexually selected feature, much like the Indian Peafowl. Their Latin name literally means Toothless (Ptera), Wing (Nodon) which will be further explored in the adaptation column.
Source
Scientific Classification:
Distribution & Habitat:
The Pteranodon lived in the North Americian shores and skies, evident have also shown that they might have lived in parts of Europe, such as England. Like the Kookaburras, they were Carnivorous and hunted mainly fishes in this coastal, salt-water area with special skills (which will be mentioned below). These creatures also preferred cool and wet weather, as scientist thinks they are very likely to have furs and are homeothermic or warm-blooded.
Picture's Source
Labelled by Kelvin Ko
By being the largest flying creature who flew in the sky, they have a natural advantage of mobility and position against their prey. They were also highly adapted to hunt fishes as they have large eyes (this will be further explained below). Because of this, they are often depicted to soar through coastline (like modern seagulls) or Southern Europe and Northern Africa. Notice that they would also hunt other small-sized dinosaurs and mammals. They also live in small groups.
Source
This species usually like to fly in light or moderate wind, so it's likely that they are the most vulnerable in typhoon seasons (May-August, Summer). In these times, the also-terrestrial confident Pteranodon would hunt on the ground. Some scientist speculates that they might also have the ability to climb tress as well, which would be ideal in forests and woodlands of Europe. Other scientists believes that these creatures live with their young and build nest-like shelter in hidden bushes.
Source
Other than that, very little is known about this species, as Scientist have yet to explore them deeply. According to their habitat, it is very likely that they lived with famous dinosaurs like Ankylosauridae and Pachycephalosauria & mammals like Opossum. Notice that the climate in this period is warmer than the modern days and tropical regions are limited to equatorial areas.
Picture's Source
Labelled By Kelvin Ko
Physical 1 - Excellent Aerialist:
The predominant physical adaption of a Pternodon is it's marvelous aerial-advantageous body build. This species have a mixture of bat-like (eg. Greater short-nosed fruit bat ) and bird-like (eg. Black Swan ) characteristic, but are still thought to be more superior than both in terms of flight. For instance, their wing membrane was fortified by a strong network of elastic fibers, making it unbreakable. They also must have strong wings and precise flight control to take off. Similar to most birds, they have nearly weightless, sparse bones which is why they are incredibly light. Together with long, sharp bills that are compatible with aerodynamics they can easily glide through air without much flapping, which saves a tremendous amount energy. In bats and birds, backbone and torso muscles are useless in flight, but in Ptermodon, these muscles are mostly eliminated. With this anatomy, they have maximized their aerial abilities. Early environment pressure that causes this adaptation to arise is most likely because of their predator, Tyrannosaurus. The T-Rex is such a fierce land dinosaur that there are almost no ways to avoid capture on land. Because of this, Pternodon with better gliding/flying abilities will escape easier, thus leading to evolution. The late environmental pressure is caused by airborne competitiveness. As some of the other airborne creatures are also extraordinarily fast and flexible. Due to this perssure, the Pternodon is required to be even more adapted in air.
Notice their extremely large wing and strengthened membrane.
Source
Physical 2 - Adapted Fish-Hunter:
The Pternodon is proved to be a species that doesn't only rely on their flighting abilities. Being an airborne fish hunter, an aerial strike is usually deadly without pinpoint accuracy. Pternodons have very large and complexed eyes, their eyesight are more or less equivalent to the eyesight of an eagle, which would allow them to look far away and be able to distinguish preys and track them far below the sea-level. When they locked their target, they would drive straight down and plunge in immediately, while using the additional joints they have around the neck-bone to strengthen their neck (as the penetrating force will be great enough to twist necks). Their pointy, sharp and long bills would also give them and advantage of easier water flow, making the strike even deadlier and deeper. In reality, airborne fishers faces numerous hardship during hunting. This driving pressure would require the species to develop new physical adaptations to hunt in water, which in this case, its sight, neck-bone and bills. Pternodons with a worse combination of these are more likely to die of starvation, thus, making this environmental pressure a driving force of evolution.
Source
Behavioral 1 - Intelligence:
Although very little information are obtained regarding to the Pteranodon, scientist believe that they are indeed an intelligent species. This is witnessed by it's relatively huge frontolobe and large-sized brain. Which are contributors to the bird's sense of self and level of consciousness. This is also the area of visual and spacial coordination and mapping, which means the bigger frontolobe area gives this species better equipment for flight. Another evident of their intellect is that they pick secured areas to lay single egg, providing parental care, which is evolutionary advantageous. Being toothless, also have to carefully swallow fish, to prevent choking. This species probably had a complex social life and are picky in terms of mating partners. Females of this species will pick males with a large head crest, a sign of strength as this crest hinder their ability to fly. Even in ancient times, intelligence was very essential to the species' survival, as creatures that have a low level of intelligence will eventually be out-smart by predators/preys and will starve to death. So, this adaptation might have arrived due to natural competition. Secondary reasons include it's speed to have a better dimensional concept, which means a bigger frontolobe.
Behavioral 2 - Bat-Style Locomotion:
Despite being an airborne species, one of the biggest adaptation of the Pteranodon is it's ability to move on land. This species use a Bat-Style Locomotion, which unlike flight, have to be trained and practiced with hard-work. In 1990s, discovery regarding to the fossils leads scientist into believing that these creature might have mastered a way to move on land and can out-speed many of the dinosaurs. In contrast to vertebrates, who walk using the toes, they would spread their arms and legs sideway and lift their thighs horizontally to walk. This adaptation would prove to be very useful as the species can now easily maneuver themselves around the ground without fearing surprise attack of a predator or getting chased. With the speed and agility, they also can feed on land in windy days. They can also now relax easier on land after tiring, long-distance flights. This adaptation arise from the fact that early Pteranodon are very weak on land, which means they are easy preys for ambush-style predators. The pressure from hunting (it's very hard to caught fish while airborne) may also lead this species to start exploring land-hunting. So, a Pteranodon that is more flexible and moves easier on land are more likely to survive and prevent starvation.
Source
Physiological - Homeothermic:
The Pternodons are thought to be warm-blooded (homeothermic) and may have feathers or thin hair covering their body. Scientist think this species may in fact have a high-metabolic rate and ate a lot, (possibly to maintain their energy). Like also seem to have wider blood vessels on their wings, which they flaps constantly during hot summer seasons. Though rarely used for this purpose, their wings acts like a heat exchange, similar to elephant's ears, to cool down their body temperature. Being a warm-blooded is very advantageous as the Pternodons live in a cool, wet area, with constant temperature change. Being warm-blooded means they could hunt and gather food during extremely cold weather, unlike their cold-blooded dinosaur counterparts. Due to the bigger living range a warm-blooded animal has, they can easily avoid their predator, T-Rex, simply by moving into colder areas.They are also less likely to be affected by surrounding area's temperature. It is unknown how this species evolved into a warm-blooded creature, but it is possibly due to their predators constantly hunting them. Which means new adaptation have to emerge, for this case, being warm-blooded, so they can move away. And since they can easily hunt a large amount of preys, they can easily become warm-blooded.
This example, along with many others,
lead scientist to believe that they have feathers.
Source
Extinctional Pressure:
It is originally thought that the driving force leading to the Pteranodon's population decline (for food, shelter and so on) is the competition with other primitive bird species. And since the evolution of the Pteranodon lagged behind during the late times of the era, many species, predators and preys have out-adapted them. Towards the end of the era, the Pteranodon became a small, endangered species. However, at that stage, they are still far from extinction. It is when the K-T mass extinction (a short period of time that includes increased volcanic activity, which increased the nitrous oxide level on earth) happened, which wiped almost all of the nautical creatures such as crabs and mollusks and fishes that the Pteranodon fed on, that the Pteranodon truly becomes extinct.
Source
Bibliography:
How Stuff Works. (1998). Pterodactyls. Retrieved July 28th, 2010 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/extinct-animals/pterodactyl-info.htm/printable
Mark, W. (2010). Terrestrial Locomotion. Retrieved July 27th, 2010 from http://www.pterosaur.net/terrestrial_locomotion.php
Bob, S. (2009). All About Pterasaurs, the Flying Reptile. Retreieved July 23rd, 2010 from http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/typesofdinosaurs/a/pterosaurs.htm
NASA. (2008). Warm and Cold Blooded Animals. Retreieved July 22nd, 2010 from http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/image_galleries/ir_zoo/coldwarm.html
HubPages. (2010). The Pterodactyl. Retreieved July 29th, 2010 from http://hubpages.com/hub/pterodactyl
Sources:
Title Picture: http://critters.pixel-shack.com/WebImages/crittersgallery/Pteranodon.jpg
Figure 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird#Early_evolution_of_birds
Figure 2: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2xZHItZMl6M/SvUQkKIANTI/AAAAAAAAHtM/yzjqNHXC6Yo/s1600-h/rhamphorhynchus+-pterosaur.jpg
Map 1: http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/1/12/LateCretaceousGlobal.jpg
Figure 3: http://www.karencarr.com/auto_image/auto_image_mid/Australian_Museum_Late_Cretaceous_plants.jpg
Figure 4: http://0.tqn.com/d/dinosaurs/1/0/6/C/-/-/pteranodonSD.jpg
Diagram 1: http://www.archkckcs.org/stjoe/Dinosaurs_file/pteranodon.gif
Figure 5: http://www.itsnature.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/pingens.gif
Figure 6: http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=8rPiC4LSVxYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Pteranodon&source=bl&ots=F5Awtb5146&sig=nBYy-Yd0967K5iYkydJtP4ImXT8&hl=zh-TW&ei=XeFOTI_3CIjJcd7vydgC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=12&ved=0CFMQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q&f=false
Figure 7: http://www.pterosaur.net/terrestrial_locomotion.php
Figure 8: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/02/19/article-1149504-035C892A000005DC-442_233x373.jpg
Figure 9: http://we.vub.ac.be/~dglg/Web/Claeys/Chicxulub/Dinodeath.jpg